The past week or two have been one technical problem after another trying to get this DVD project off to the replicators. Casualties include two hard drives at the authoring guy's place, and the paying jobs previously stored on those. I believe at one point in there, I worked for 72 hours without a break. But it's hard to say that definitively because I remember none of it.

In the end, we had to make some ugly compromises, losing one of our easter eggs (the best one, as it turns out) and simplifying the menus down to a level which looks pretty amateur by today's standards but might have been considered professional two or three years ago. Bad timing on that, really - we're about a month off from having the right software to pull off what we wanted. That disappointment aside, the actual content is very good, and we made it just under the wire so there should be product in hand to distribute when we promised.

I do have to go back to the office for an afternoon. My last day there, I finished building a series of tools for them but was unable to show the person for whom they were built how to use 'em. Both they and their immediate supervisor ended up going home sick that day, so I promised a quick visit on Tuesday or Wednesday. But in all the frenzy getting that other project out the door, I haven't had a chance to go in yet.

I did make it to CalArts for my interview. The counsellor I spoke to was a very attractive and personable graduate of the film program, also from Ventura, so I have to say it was a pleasant meeting. Anyway, I'm going to try for next semester. This brings me back to the healthier deadline of November to get my stuff turned in, though I'll meet with the councellor once more before then to make sure I'm on the right track. Meanwhile, I'll take my classes at the community college, and try to make headway in the whole Career-as-an-Artist thing. And if either of the programs I want open up, I'd like to fly out to Tennesee for some truly intensive software training at the Renaissance Center.

sencollins woke me up with a phone call yesterday, asking if I wanted to go get a donut. He and the Mrs. were apparently passing through town on their way somewhere else. They never call ahead so we can make plans anymore, 'cause this leads to broken promises more often than not. And this way's just a happy surprise when it actually works out. Anyway, we had a very nice time, but as always, far too short.

Saw "the Medallion" last night. Much as I wanted to like it, the film was pretty bad. And for once, I couldn't come up with a list of simple fixes to make it a good movie. The basic structure was just so muddled, I don't know that anyone could have pulled this story off. There were definitely good moments, strong ideas sprinkled throughout. But I can't recommend it. Still need to see "Spy Kids 3D", "Jason vs. Freddy" and "Whalerider." And I'm a little upset I was never able to make time for "Spellbound" while it was playing out here.

Wil Wheaton came to my local comic shop today. I bought a second copy of his book ('cause, it's very good and my first copy's all worn out from loaning it to everyone), got his signature on that, and also had him sign my copy of "Stand By Me." Then I hung out for a while while he joked with everyone.

Before I left, I did get an answer to the burning question of "How the hell were they planning to explain Wesley Crusher's presence at the wedding in Nemesis?" (since that didn't even make it into the DVD's deleted scenes) As it turns out, there was actually no explanation. They were simply going to acknowledge that he's been gone for a while, and leave the question open for a novelist to take on. Which is probably for the best, as the story behind a person moving beyond the bounds of space and time only to decide that there's something more important for him back in reality is probably too epic to be summarized in a throwaway line or two.

What was filmed and deleted, however, had Wesley stationed on Riker's ship now as a fairly high ranking engineer (so, that's something to look forward to if Jonathan Frakes gets his spinoff). This is evidently still in the novelization of the film, and the first of twelve novels covering how the characters all got to their starting places in Nemesis comes out in February. Somewhere over the course of those, all the continuity stuff should be worked out. It is a shame Wil's not writing the Wesley chapter, though. For anyone willing to read it, that would have been great.

Also waiting for me at the comic store were the final installment of Joss Whedon's "Fray," and issue #10 of "Lenore." Neither of these come out on anything close to a regular basis, so to be handed both of them at once was beyond freaky.

I guess that's it for now. I'm probably leaving out something vastly important, but we can always fill in later. 'cause, I have no huge looming deadlines right now. There should actually be room to breathe, catch up on my sleeping, clean up my living space, and maybe post here occasionally.

"Something to look forward to if Frakes gets his spinoff": Did you ask Wil if he would take that opportunity, if it was offered to him? Coming back to being Wesley for a couple of days of shooting is a lot different than coming back to the character for an extended period of time...

Final issue of Fray: I'd be interested to read the story that reconciles Fray with the final episode of Buffy...

Wheaton:I didn't ask that, no. He kinda wandered from this explanation into a discussion of Stuart Baird's faults as a director, and I was too busy cheering him on to interrupt.

But, he did say (earlier, answering someone else's question) that if they can get the cast together, he's up for another movie at least.

That may or may not be true of a whole other spinoff (as this would mean not getting the cast together). My guess is he'd do movies without a second thought, but committing to a season at a time on TV is a lot to consider.

Fray:Yeah.. That's not this issue.

Joss hinted at Comic-Con and again in his notes here that this is something he'll cover in another Fray storyline. But realistically, I supsect we'll be down to a couple of Slayers again halfway through this season of Angel.

Further, by activating Slayers en masse, it becomes much easier to reconcile with the existance of Kendra and Faith. Fray comes at a time when there's been no slayers for a while. That's very different from a new slayer coming into action the moment one dies. What the final episode of Buffy accomplished is a change of rules. We haven't seen the consequence of this yet, but it's easy to speculate that the ancient magics are used up; that this overwhelming force of new Slayers will not be replenished as they die out.

So, then the question Joss has to answer is not "Where did all the Slayers go?", but rather "What kindled the flame to finally bring a new Slayer into being?"

I'm playing a Buffy Role-Playing Game, set about 20 years in the future, and in it, the GM had decided to do something similar to Fray, in that there were no slayers at all, and only one potential slayer around. Activating the new Slayer was quite the interesting task...